How many pads do people use with their DA to remove swirl marks across a car the size of a golf whether its a single stage or 2 stage removal process? Do you clean on the fly or have say 3 or 4 clean ones sat there ready to go?

1 for the bonnet and front end.
2 for each side.
1 for the rear.
1 for the roof

Also, using more foam pads like this, prolongs the life of your pads. They don't heat up as much or get oversaturated. Over saturated pads don't brake the abrasives down correctly thus not giving you the results.

How many pads do people use with their DA to remove swirl marks across a car the size of a golf whether its a single stage or 2 stage removal process? Do you clean on the fly or have say 3 or 4 clean ones sat there ready to go?

I'll clean after every pass, and then after a couple of panels swap out the pad for a new one.
On a Golf I can get away with 4 5.5in pads and then a few 3in ones.

Pretty much all of my pads I have at least 4 of, maybe 6 in some cases.

If I'm doing correction work, I'll use a pad per panel. MYbe two on the roof, dependant on size. Some may think that's a little OTT but that's what I prefer to do..... And I have loads of pads also lol